Cape Coast, April 17, GNA - President Jerry Rawlings on Monday called on universities in developing countries to help ensure the effective and efficient management of the rapidly developing information technology for socio-economic development.

He pointed out that the widening gap between developing and developed countries could only be narrowed if the universities took full advantage of such technologies.

President Rawlings made the call in an address read for him by Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas, Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Tertiary Education, at the opening of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) Council meeting at the University of Cape Coast (UCC).

The five-day meeting is being attended by 30 Vice-Chancellors from the ACU's 35 member-countries in Africa, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean and Europe. It will, among other things, hold a colloquium on "The use of information technology in university teaching and learning and the impact of universities in higher education".

President Rawlings was happy that over the years the Commonwealth had transformed itself from a rather nostalgic "old-boys club" whose members shared a love of cricket and English literature into a group of nations ready to face practical challenges of the 21st Century.

The Commonwealth, he said, had redefined it's role to become more relevant to the needs and aspirations of its member-countries. "In the same way, universities have to come to terms with new realities on the need to use new technologies to make higher education accessible to many more people and to find innovative and cost-effective ways of providing the necessary resources to do this."

He said Ghana has recognised that distance education is a cost-effective way of greatly increasing access to university education and, although a start had been made, he was hopeful that the meeting would share experiences to help Ghana enrich its efforts.

The President observed that institutions of higher learning and their programmes of study have to meet international standards to qualify as centres of excellence and also have programmes and degrees internationally recognised.

This calls for the development of domestic and international structures that would enable higher educational institutions to meet such requirements. He pointed out that it is for this reason that the Ghana government has over the years, in collaboration with councils and Vice-Chancellors of the country's universities, developed structures and policies aimed at maintaining such standards.

"We would continue to revise our curricula and programmes to meet the current socio-economic and technological development of the nation and also meet international equivalencies."

The President referred to the funding of tertiary education and stressed the need for the country's universities to do more to reduce their dependency on government subvention.

He expressed the hope that the deliberations at the meeting would help address issues such as appropriate use of technology as well as strengthen collaboration amongst them.

The Secretary General of the ACU, Professor Michael Gidbon, said the association is developing what he described as "a multiple network of occupancy to enable it to add more value to its activities".

Professor Samuel Adjapong, Vice-Chancellor of the UCC and current Chairman of the ACU council, in his welcoming address, observed that the ACU had kept faith with its objectives of achieving international co-operation and exchange for advancing higher education.

He noted that since the 21st century is an information age, the ACU would be called upon to assist some of its members to develop information and communication technology infrastructure for teaching, learning and research.

The participants will, in addition to their working sessions, visit some places of interest.